Rites Saturday for ‘Porterville’ Figure

Fresh flowers, black ribbons and handwritten messages now adorn the locked gate that Sam Porter spent his last years fighting.

The gate, which separates Porter’s Trabuco Highlands Ranch from an adjacent housing development, has become a memorial to his life and his ideals.

Known as colorful, boisterous and opinionated, Porter, 68, died Sunday, a week after breaking his hip during a fall on his beloved 233-acre ranch, said his wife of 23 years, Jeanne.

“He was so unique. He was larger than life. He was a legend,” she said of the man who spent nearly three decades battling government officials, developers and neighbors over a variety of issues.

“Resolute is how he described himself,” Jeanne Porter said. “His determination and resolve were just amazing. Mere mortals pale in comparison.”

A native of Ogden, Utah, Porter settled in El Toro in the 1960s and opened a cement contracting business. He literally laid the foundation for much of southern Orange County.

After purchasing his Trabuco Canyon ranch, Porter began renting out space there in 1980 to what he called the “working homeless,” an assortment of low-income families unable to afford traditional housing.

The assortment of trailers, shacks and abandoned boxcars in which the families lived became known as Porterville, and as many as 85 families lived there during its peak. The shantytown was opposed by county fire and health agencies as well as local residents and developers.

Jeanne Porter said Porterville, which was abandoned about two years ago after more than a decade of clashes, was probably her husband’s greatest accomplishment.

“He was for the underdog; he stood up for his beliefs regardless of the consequences. The battles didn’t matter,” Jeanne Porter said.

Porter was elected to the Santa Ana Mountains County Water District in 1985 and survived a recall effort spurred by other board members who alleged that he illegally hooked up water lines to Porterville. He failed in an attempt to win a county supervisorial seat in 1988.

Porter suffered a stroke two years ago, just weeks after the disputed gate was installed, and had been in failing health. His daughter Rebecca was at his side when he died.

Porter is also survived by daughter Suzanne and five children from a previous marriage: Lars of Irvine; Samuel, Rebecca and Valerie of Lake Forest and Victoria of Portland, Ore.

A memorial service will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Trabuco Canyon Community Church, 19744 Live Oak Canyon Road. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled, 27782 El Lazo Road, Suite 100, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.